


Spending Time with You

by ofpinetreesandcampfires



Series: Chowen Fics [2]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV), Julie and The Phantoms (TV) RPF
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Chowen being adorable, Day Off, Dom/sub Undertones, M/M, Non-sexual ABO
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-14 09:49:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 15,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28543605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ofpinetreesandcampfires/pseuds/ofpinetreesandcampfires
Summary: My days are brighter than morning airEvergreen pine and autumn blueBut all my days are twice as fairIf I could shareMy days with you--- With You, Pippin (1972)Owen loves when they get a day or two between scenes to just relax and not do anything. It’s been a few long, exhausting days and Owen never wants to look at another hot dog again. Kenny told them that, since they’d been so good about doing super long shoots, that they could have a three day weekend before they have to start on the next set of scenes. Owen likes Kenny, likes how he’s not worked into the ground and he actually has time to breathe. Being able to take time off and just sleep in and not have to work 15+ hour days. It’ll be nice to wake up when they want.OROwen and Charlie spend their Saturday off together and with friends before it's back to the daily grind.
Relationships: Charlie Gillespie/Owen Patrick Joyner
Series: Chowen Fics [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2088375
Comments: 32
Kudos: 85





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Usual RPF disclaimers: None of this is real. No disrespect is meant, so suspend reality.
> 
> So, this is an ABO fic but there will be no smut here. Some slight Dom/sub vibes just because of the nature of the universe I'm playing in. In this universe, there's no real hierarchy (alphas run the scene while betas are in the middle and omegas are hella submissive), just designations and the typical things that come with it. 
> 
> I hope you'll give it a try.

Owen loves when they get a day or two between scenes to just relax and not do anything. It’s been a few long, exhausting days and Owen never wants to look at another hot dog again. Kenny told them that, since they’d been so good about doing super long shoots, that they could have a three day weekend before they have to start on the next set of scenes. Owen likes Kenny, likes how he’s not worked into the ground and he actually has time to breathe. Being able to take time off and just sleep in and not have to work 15+ hour days. It’ll be nice to wake up when they want.

He presses his nose in between Charlie’s shoulder blades and sighs. The room, his room, smells like the two of them instead of just Owen and it makes him smile. Charlie’s given up trying to sneak into Owen’s room and, after the two of them started dating, they didn’t even talk about it. Just kind of decided that Owen’s room would be their room.

The first time Charlie snuck into his bedroom, they’d been living together for almost a month. It’s a small apartment with a decent kitchen and living room area. Fully furnished, not the cheapest, but they’ve got paychecks now. Owen’s bedroom has a nice window overlooking the city while Charlie keeps his shades drawn… not a morning person at all. He’s had to learn all about his new roommate. He'd never lived with an omega before that wasn't family, and he's certainly never had a crush on one this fast. 

He felt the bed dip and the covers pulled away. Shivered as cold air rushed in where the covers lifted. Charlie didn't make a sound as he slid in, just pushed his nose into the divot between Owen’s shoulder blades. The blonde didn't sleep with a shirt on so he could feel every point of contact as Charlie snuggled closer, sighing. A hand pressed a fist against the bottom of his spine before Charlie stopped moving and his breathing evened out.

Owen couldn't breath. Charlie's always smelled good from far away, like crackling fires and summer nights. But now he was here, in Owen's bed, smelling like heaven and breathing against the back of his neck and Owen c couldn't sleep no matter what. If he inhaled or turned the wrong way, he'd get a whiff of the omega's scent and it made his heart flutter.

Now, after a month of living together and another one of sharing a bed and dating, Owen doesn’t mind. Charlie doesn’t have to sneak into his room anymore while he sleeps. Even though there are two beds in the apartment, Charlie’s made himself at home in Owen’s. Charlie and Owen get ready side by side in the bathroom before they turn in together. Owen might stay up for a little while on his phone as Charlie passes out next to him, pressing his nose into Owen’s hip. Other times, Owen will fall asleep first, head pressing into Charlie’s stomach while he hums song lyrics and writes them down, the vibrations against his ear lulling him to sleep.

The guest room, as they call it now, sits empty, completely abandoned unless Jer or Maddie or Savannah decide to stay overnight. But everyone’s doing something else for their days off and Owen’s okay with that. Just him and Charlie and whatever it is they decide to do today.

Owen purrs when Charlie snuggles into his side, a sleepy whine exiting his mouth. The blonde watches him sleep, a soft smile on his face as he tangles his fingers in brown hair. The sun shines through the window and makes it light up in a halo. His eyes are still closed, covering those blue eyes Owen loves. When the blonde takes a big breath of the fresh morning breeze coming through the window, Charlie’s scent washes over him, makes his body relax and calm into the covers. Charlie smells like campfires Owen remembers from back when he was in high school, like summer nights catching fireflies in the backyard before the chill rolls in. Owen runs his fingertips over Charlie’s bare shoulder.

Charlie’s breath rustles some of his own hair curling across his cheek and he moves in with a sleepy grunt to press his nose to the blonde’s neck, huffing into his skin. Goosebumps travel up his spine and Owen wraps his arm tighter around the brunette.

“O’wn,” Charlie mumbles when the blonde uses his other hand to massage his fingers through his hair.

"Morning, buddy.”

“Too bright.”

Owen chuckles and shakes his head but presses a kiss to Charlie’s hair. This is one of the things Charlie’s had to get used to while sharing a room. Owen sometimes forgets to close the shades, light filtering instead of blackout like Charlie likes. Owen usually wakes up with Charlie hiding under his arm, glaring at the beams of sunlight as they crawl across the sheets if it's not overcast.

“You smell good,” Charlie says in a kind of throwaway comment, but it makes Owen’s heart squeeze. “Like fall and maple syrup.” Owen chuckles, pressing a kiss to the older boy’s forehead. He knows that his own scent reminds Charlie of home. 

Charlie drifts back off after a few minutes and Owen stretches out to pick up his phone. There’s a message from Maddie with a link to a local famer’s market. She’s always sending Owen stuff like that because she knows he’s a health nut. He’s been trying to get Charlie to eat something better than his weird ass Eggo sandwich monstrosity, but the boy’s set in his ways. He doesn’t want to wake Charlie up when he looks so peaceful, signature lopsided smile on his face, but he does want to get out of the house at some point today. Just because it’s their day off doesn’t mean they have to laze in bed all day. They can do that tomorrow.

“Charlie, come on.” He uses his shoulder to jolt Charlie a bit. The brunette grumbles and rolls over, allowing the blanket to settle around his waist. Charlie moves his arm so it hangs over the side of the bed, back to Owen.

The blonde rests his hand on Charlie’s back, not pressing, just letting it rise and fall with each inhale-exhale. Charlie whines when Owen scratches gently with his dull nails, presses the cold metal of his rings to skin, but he doesn’t protest. “Come on, get up.” He puts a little bit of a command into it, lets a little more alpha seep into his voice until Charlie rolls around and glares at him. Owen doesn’t use it often-- has been told by Savannah that he’s the least _alpha_ Alpha she’s ever met-- but if it gets Charlie off his ass…

“I hate it when you do that,” he grumbles as he sits up in bed, rubbing at his eye with a fist. He looks absolutely adorable, sleep-rumpled with flyaway hairs and ruddy cheeks, and Owen wants to kiss him, but he’s gotta get out of bed first. “Do we really have to get up? It’s our day off.”

“I mean, we don’t have to,” Owen says as he sits back down on the bed next to Charlie’s torso. “Maddie told me about a farmer’s market downtown and you need more greens in your diet.” He pokes Charlie’s abs, watches them twitch under his fingers.

“Ew, greens. I like food that actually tastes good.” Charlie shuffles back and leans against the headboard. “If it doesn’t come in nugget form, I don’t want it.” Owen scoots over to him and straddles his lap. He runs his hands through Charlie’s hair, fluffs it up around his neck, and presses their foreheads together.

“Please,” Owen breathes, “for me?” 

Charlie grumbles and rolls his neck and he won’t look at Owen, but ultimately sighs and nods. Owen smiles and shuffles off of Charlie’s lap. He begins digging through his side of the drawer, feeling Charlie’s eyes on his body, scanning up and down. Owen’s only got boxers on, like Charlie, but that must be enough because the scent of arousal starts to become heavy in the air.

“Right now?” Charlie asks as he slides out of bed. He puts his hand on Owen’s hips and presses his body against the blonde’s back. “Can’t we stay in bed for a little longer?” His voice turns into a purr and his scent gets stronger, laced with the sweet tinge of arousal. Charlie presses kisses to Owen’s neck, open against his pulse point.

Owen shivers, but the omega’s not going to stop him from his goal of getting his boyfriend to eat healthier. The brunette grumbles and bites at Owen’s shoulder. “The market closes at two and it’s almost noon. You know that if we get back into bed, we’re gonna get out of bed until at least sundown.” He smirks. “If you eat something healthy tonight, I promise we can spend all of tomorrow doing whatever you wanna do.”

Charlie just wiggles his eyebrows in response as he grabs clothes from his own side of the drawer. Sometimes, the omega's so much like an excitable puppy that Owen can't help himself. Before Charlie can leave for the hallway bathroom, Owen pulls him back by the arm and kisses him softly.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Owen and Charlie go out for the day to the farmer's market. Charlie has a few moments where he slips into that typical omega mindset and Owen just takes care of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Charlie might be a little bit more mellow in this part of the fic, but he's going to come back full force in the next chapter.

Sometimes Owen can hardly believe his life is real.

The farmer’s market smells like fresh bread from the local bakeries. The tomatoes shine in the sunlight. The grass tickles his toes through his flipflops and he smiles when he feels a hand slide into his. Just half a step behind him, arm pressed against Owen’s. The farmer’s market in Esther Short Park bustles and Charlie bumps up against him from behind as they weave through the crowd. 

He's usually a really private person, keeping his relationships under wraps, but no one knows them here.  _ Knight Squad _ was fun but, admittedly, hadn't been the most popular show on the network. He likes the anonymity. Charlie's from Canada, but he hasn't had prominent roles in shows or movies either, so the two of them are just a normal couple on a Saturday afternoon outing. He can hold Charlie's hand without getting that weird knotted feeling in his stomach, can kiss him without people talking about it on social media. Owen knows it will be different after the show drops, so he savors the feeling, squeezing Charlie's hand and hearing a chuckle beside him.

This farmer’s market is so much busier than any he’s ever been to back home, but it’s nice. There’s stalls selling meat and gluten free breads and produce. There’s even some craft stuff around, like wicker baskets and homemade candles. His mom would love this place and he makes a note in the back of his mind to buy her something from a craft booth. They weave through the throngs of shoppers: parents holding tight to children, other couples haggling booth owners, older folks just meandering with their wheely baskets. 

Owen pauses at a booth filled with flowers, the old florist with gnarled fingers and a kind smile. Charlie looks up at him with a shy smile, eyes flicking from him to the flowers and back. Sometimes he gets like this, a little bit of his omega temperament coming out and Owen has to take that little bit of control to settle him. When they’d been leaving the apartment, Charlie had gone kinda quiet and settled, held Owen’s hand without swinging it between them. He nudges Charlie up to the table, inclining his head to one of the bouquets on display in clear permission. Charlie nods and lets go of his hand to purchase the flowers, his lips curling up, eyes fluttering shut. His omega, usually so bouncy and energetic, will have small bouts of nervousness or just mellowing out and kind of clings to Owen when he gets like this. He’s so captivating Owen has to kiss him, sweet and soft and slow on the lips and Charlie whines into his mouth. Right now, in the crowd, his anxiety is nowhere to be found. All that's there is his love for Charlie and the fact that they can just be themselves here. He’s not one for PDA, but Charlie needs him when he gets like this, and he pushes down his embarrassment to soothe the omega. The woman smiles at them, cooing and talking about her own alpha back at their flower farm. 

The blonde closes his eyes and breathes in the scent of Charlie mixed with the flowers from the bouquet handed to him. The trees make the sunshine struggle a little to reach the grass, dappling patterns across the greenery. There’s a light breeze that makes all the different scents mix together and it would be dizzying if Charlie wasn’t pressed behind him, scent clogging his nose in the best way possible. The blonde knows this memory will stay in his mind, Charlie’s crystalline blue eyes glinting with happiness, when they have to inevitably say goodbye. The brunette sighs and sways when Owen applies the gentlest pressure to his wrist.

Once they’ve walked away from the flower stall, he tilts Charlie’s head with his thumb and ducks to press a kiss to his pulse point. Charlie whines and presses closer, hand squeezing Owen’s arm tightly. Owen smiles at him and chucks his chin, earning him a lopsided smile in response. Charlie shuffles next to him, that energy back in an instant, as if his moment of full-on omega had never happened. He tugs Owen’s hand and leads them into the crowd.

They find a stall that sells fresh produce and advertises the ability to pick one’s own if they come to the farm about an hour outside the city. A grizzly old alpha with a Santa Claus mustache and tan skin smiles at them. Owen watches as he leans down to hand a shiny red apple to a child.

“There you go, Clara,” he says to the child before he wipes his big hands on his overalls and smiles at the two of them. “How you boys doin’?”

“Oh, we’re doing good, sir,” Owen answers as Charlie presses his forehead against the small of Owen’s back. “How’s business today?”

“Can’t complain.” He looks between the two of them, Charlie holding onto the back of Owen’s shirt, beanie askew on his head, and smiles.

Owen picks out some greens and other things, Charlie wrinkling his nose at even the idea of eating something like that. Maddie’s been teaching Owen some of her favorite dishes, but also the simpler ones, so that he’s eating more than tuna and beans. The internet has been his friend in that respect, trying new dishes while he's living so far from homemade meals. Charlie’s a little less adventurous, but maybe Owen can get him to eat something other than his weird Eggo sandwich and dino-shaped nuggets. Charlie grabs a basket of strawberries and an orange because he’ll eat fruit but he refuses to eat anything green that isn’t a watermelon or apple flavored candy. Owen pays and puts the stuff into one of the reusable bags Carolyn gave them when she saw them using plastic bags. He grabs Charlie’s hand with the other.

Charlie eats one of the strawberries right from his fingers, cheeks going pink as the old farmer coos at them. He chuckles when Charlie ducks, face as red as the strawberry juice dripping from his chin. Owen cups his cheek and wipes the drip with his thumb, bringing it to his own mouth and sucking it off. Charlie’s pupils dilate and Owen smirks. Charlie’s always teasing him around their friends now that they’re together, sexual innuendos that make Maddie smack his shoulder and sitting on his lap at the most inopportune times. Owen’s just giving him a little taste of his own medicine. Not that he minds because he also gets to kiss Charlie and that’s never a bad thing.

He pulls Charlie away from the fawning old alpha famer and around the bend of a tree a little ways away from the hustle and bustle of the farmer’s market, a little private. Charlie leans against it, a sappy smile on his face. Owen sits down on the ground next to his leg, chuckling when Charlie falls to his knees next to him and crawls between his legs, leans back against him, presses his nose to Owen’s neck. He leans over and pulls one of the oranges out of the bag and wraps his arms around Charlie, hands settling over his lap.

The orange makes a squishing noise as Owen breaks it open, digging his short nail into the peel to break the skin open. Charlie laughs at him as he struggles to get it open. Juices drop from his fingers as he continues until he can feed a piece to Charlie before doing the same for himself. Charlie licks his fingers when he gets another piece. The smell of Charlie mixes with the smell of oranges and the tang sits heavy on Owen’s tongue. The blonde remembers one time, in science glass, when they squeezed the juice from the orange rind into a lit flame to make it change color. That’s what he smells when he inhales the scent lingering in the air. The brunette grumbles when he realizes the orange is done and nudges Owen’s hand with his nose.

Owen slips two fingers, still dripping with juice, into Charlie’s mouth and the brunette suckles until his nose wrinkles at the sour bite of the peel remnants on Owen’s skin. He sticks out his tongue and pretends to scrape it with his teeth; ridiculous boy.

“Good?” Owen asks. 

Charlie smiles and nods. Owen wraps his arm around Charlie’s waist with one arm and presses a hand against his abs under his shirt and leaves it there. Just feeling Charlie breathe against him. He smells soft and the taste of marshmallows mixing with the campfire of Charlie’s omega scent makes Owen smile. It’s that sweetness in the back of his throat that makes Owen lean down and nuzzle his neck. He moves his hand from Charlie’s stomach to his back, slipping his hand under Charlie’s shirt, presses his hand against warm skin.

“Ready to go back?” Owen asks after a few moments of silence, listening to the crowd from the farmer’s market and children’s laughter coming from the nearby park. He taps his short nails against Charlie’s back to a tiny rhythm.

“Really?  _ Now or Never _ ?” Charlie says with a chuckle. “Even on our days off, we can’t really get away, can we?”

Owen chuckles and runs his fingers up and down the brunette’s arm, following the line of his muscle. Charlie flexes as he leans back, butting his head against the underside of Owen's chin.

They stay at the park for hours, just walking the circuit of the park. Charlie seems to be over his little slip because he's letting go of Owen's hand every so often to run and jump and spin around and beam at the blonde. His energy levels are through the roof again, boisterous and loud, but always coming back to Owen to grab his hand again or kiss-and-run or to babble about something he's been working on with Maddie or Jeremy.

When he comes back to Owen just before they exit the park, the blonde pulls him in for a deep kiss that makes him melt. Owen ruffles his hair, cups his cheek, and pulls him inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you guys thought!
> 
> Next up, we got the gang getting together.


	3. Chapter 3

Owen’s just washing the final dish from dinner— some basic chicken and veggie dish he found on the internet—when the door slams open. Jeremy and Jadah spill in through the door, followed by Savannah and Maddie. They’re loud and boisterous and Jeremy’s carrying, like, three pizza boxes while Jadah and Maddie have a one-liter bottle of soda each. Charlie’s in the living room with his guitar, giving the apartment some background music, but he looks up when he hears the noise.

“Ohmigod, Charlie, take that pick out of your mouth before you choke,” Maddie says as she puts the soda on the island in front of Owen and storms over. She holds out her palm and glares at him. “Spit it out.” Owen can almost taste the tang of fresh strawberries in the air, Maddie’s scent intense as she glares at the omega.

Charlie just smiles at the young alpha, holding the plastic between his teeth. He’s not challenging her, but Owen’s really the only one that can get him to do anything. But even he has to put a little bit of that alpha power behind it. The blonde turns back to the dishes as the two in the living room start one of their many arguments about Charlie putting things in his mouth… like a dog. Jadah goes to the hallway closet and grabs one of the board games the owner left for renters. Owen can’t tell which one it is.

“Have a good day off?” Jeremy asks as he sits on one of the spinney chairs at the island, making Owen turn to look at him. Savannah drops her keys on the counter and jumps up, sits next to the sink, and grabs a towel to help Owen dry the dishes. The scent of an herb garden fills the air as the blonde omega tosses her hair over her shoulder. He still finds it funny that she smells like herbs and she’s played a character named Sage. Or something like that. Owen doesn't remember. 

“Yeah,” Owen shrugs. “We went to the farmer’s market and I actually got Charlie to eat a vegetable.”

“Really?” Jeremy asks, eyes wide with shock. 

Savannah laughs and shakes her head. “What did you promise him in return?”

The blonde feels himself blush to the roots of his hair. “None of your business.” He shoves Savannah, but she just giggles and smiles back at him. Jeremy wiggles his eyebrows. He’s almost as good at doing that as Booboo is.  _ Almost. _

Owen sees Charlie sniff the air out of the corner of his eye. The brunette’s eyes go wide and he abandons setting up the game, launching himself over the couch in the most dramatic fashion to get to the pizza. He snags the piece right out of Jeremy’s hand before he can take a bite and shoves it into his mouth. Owen wrinkles his nose as oil drips down the sides of Charlie’s mouth, his cheeks chipmunking. It’s like he’s never had pizza before at all.

“Dude.” Jeremy looks from his empty hand to Charlie. Waves of cinnamon, heavy and almost too much, rolls off of the beta. Charlie just smiles at him through another mouthful of pizza. “Okay, I love pizza, but that’s gross.”

Charlie finally swallows his mouthful and wipes his lips with the back of his hand. “S’rry.” How Owen finds him cute, he has no idea. Charlie loves food almost as much as he loves music… Owen himself is glad he ranks just a smidge higher than both.

“We just ate,” Owen grumbles. “ _ How _ are you still hungry?”

“Because you gave me rabbit food. And it’s  _ pizza _ , O.” He kisses Owen’s cheek and he can feel the oil sticking to his skin. “Pizza is, like, a whole food group.”

“There was chicken too. Not just veggies.” Owen rolls his eyes and grabs a paper towel to wipe his cheek while Charlie piles a few more slices onto a paper plate and grabs one of the sodas to bring back to Maddie and Jadah. They’ve set up what is obviously  _ Monopoly. _

“Y’all wanna play?” Jadah calls. She and Maddie are flicking the green houses at each other, a mix of strawberries and cocoa powder in the air from the alpha and beta respectively. Why do all his friends smell like food? Owen shakes his head and grabs a slice of pizza.

“I’m just gonna finish cleaning,” he calls out. “And then I’ll probably have to bail Charlie out of jail or something.”

“Hey.” Charlie pouts and Maddie snorts behind her hand. “Babe, that’s harsh.”

Owen’s heart flutters at the pet name and he blushes again. It’s one thing to be among strangers at the farmer’s market, to be cooed at by the florist or the farmer that they’ll never see again. To be more affectionate and kiss Charlie whenever he wants and feed the omega from his fingertips. Among friends, he tends to become shy, to shy away from anything more than cuddles and soft quick pecks. He’s not one of those stupid macho alpha types that likes to be the center of attention or show off, especially when it’s their omega. But Charlie isn’t his. Not like Owen wants him to be. He watches the brunette settle onto the floor next to Maddie, arguing with Jadah about who gets to be the dog. Watches his shirt shift a little off his bare shoulder and his teeth ache.

He feels a tap on his arm and a whiff of cinnamon and turns to find Jeremy smiling softly at him. “You okay?” the beta asks as he takes the plate from Owen’s clenched hand.

“How did you know you wanted to mate with Carolynn?” The question spills out of him and he turns away from Jeremy’s eyes just as they begin to soften, as his scent gets a little sweeter. “Fuck, sorry. I know that’s personal shit.”

Jeremy laughs and his rosacea stands out against his pale cheeks as he blushes. Owen turns back to putting the dishes away and packing the leftovers into Tupperware containers. “It wasn’t… it took us a long time to get there,” Jeremy tells him. “We were dating for, like, three years. We mated before we got married, so marriage was kind of just like a public union thing? ” He reaches up to rub at the corner between his shoulder and neck, where Owen can see the edge of his mating mark. It’s so weird, Owen thinks, that biting another human hard enough to break skin and leave a mark is just an accepted part of their society. It links you with another person forever or, well, until you break it with drugs. It’s weird… but Owen wants that one day.

“I know,” Owen says in a deadpan voice. “I was there. We were all there.” Owen remembers how happy everyone was. Remembers shoving Charlie into a tux because the brunette complained that his arm couldn’t breathe if he was wearing sleeves. It had been a beautiful day and Owen can still see the blinding smile on his friends’ faces once the officiant said ‘you may now kiss.’

“So, why the question?”

Owen shrugs. He turns and leans against the counter, crosses his arms as if he’s holding himself together. There are nerves and anxiety and all that shit bubbling up in his stomach and he watches Charlie throw his head back and laugh as Savannah grumbles, handing Jadah a wad of fake cash. Owen can see the line of his throat, traces it with his eyes, and, like before, his teeth ache. Biology is weird.

“Oh, I see.” Jeremy gives him that smug smile again and knocks their shoulders together. 

“Shut up.” He licks his teeth and tries to tell his brain to calm down. But he can’t, even though Charlie’s on the other side of the room, pulling Jadah into a headlock, rubbing his knuckles against her braids while she erupts into laughter.

“Care said the same thing happened to her a few times. I guess I’m just that irresistible.” There’s that eyebrow wiggle again. It’s kind of annoying, but Owen also kind of loves it? Jeremy’s like yet another sibling he gained from doing this show. The blonde pours himself a glass of soda and takes a sip. The bubbles pop on his tongue and Jeremy snorts when he grimaces.

“But we just started dating,” Owen mumbles. “Isn’t it too soon to, you know, feel like this?”

“Dude, it’s not about how long you’ve been together. It’s about what feels right to you. And you gotta talk about it. It  _ can’t _ be an in-the-moment thing.”

“I know.”

He swirls the soda around in the plastic cup, feeling Jeremy’s flannel brush against his elbow, and just watches the scene in front of him. The girls have ganged up on Charlie, completely forgetting the game in favor of throwing green and red plastic hotels at him, Maddie grabbing a pillow from the couch behind her and trying to smother him with it. It’s like a scene out of a cliche Christmas movie, where the family gathers together in someone’s house and it’s just the right kind of chaos. There’s the mixing of scents from all the different people in the room: cinnamon, herbs, a campfire in summer, strawberries, chocolate, a pine forest and maple syrup.

“You know,” Jeremy speaks up after a few minutes of watching the chaos that the girls and Charlie are creating, “we’re kind of like a pack.”

“What?” Owen blinks at the other boy. “What the fuck are you talking about?” Jeremy’s always making those kinds of comments and sometimes Owen wonders if Reggie is literally just Jeremy being Jeremy.

“You know, like wolves?” Jeremy gestures vaguely. “We’re like one big happy family. I wouldn't’ have met you guys if this show hadn’t happened.”

“Now you’re just being sappy.” Owen nudges Jeremy’s shoulder and chuckles when the other boy does it right back. But he’s right in a sense. They are like family and he wouldn't have met Charlie and fallen in love and… 

“Are y’all gonna stand around talking?” Maddie shouts as she shoves the pillow into Charlie’s face again. “Or are you going to help us?”

Jeremy launches himself over the couch, just like Charlie did earlier. He almost squashes Jadah and she pushes him off. Owen’s the last one over, weaving between the dining room table and taking a seat on the couch. He takes another sip of his soda and smiles as Jeremy takes over, divvying up the pieces fairly and keeping the dog for himself. Charlie’s horrible at the game, losing so badly that he goes bankrupt within the first 30 minutes. Maddie and Jadah both have a dark blue property each and keep yelling at each other, while Jeremy and Savannah are collecting all the lower-priced properties, hoping to catch the younger girls off guard.

“It’s not fair,” Charlie whines as he crawls into Owen’s lap, throwing his arm over his eyes and almost smacking the soda cup out of Owen’s hand.

“This is why I do the grocery shopping,” Owen responds. He puts the cup on the coffee table next to the couch and slings his own arm across Charlie’s stomach. He taps out a rhythm against his abs and Charlie’s chuckle feels weird against his fingers. Owen leans his head back against the couch and takes a deep breath, inhaling the smell of his friends and his, well, his Charlie. 

Tomorrow, he and Charlie can spend all day lazing around the apartment. But tonight, listening to Jadah brag as she finally kicks Maddie out of the other dark blue space, while Jeremy tries to beg Savannah to loan him just a few bills, as Charlie snuggles into Owen’s side with a big breathy sigh… This is the life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For anyone who is confused, each individual has a unique scent that has nothing to do with their designation.
> 
> Let me know what y'all thought! I'm going to try to write another chapter that takes place on set because some people have asked for Booboo and on-set stuff.


	4. Chapter 4

It’s one o’clock in the morning by the time they finish filming. Maddie went home hours ago, so it’s just the three of them. Charlie worms his way under Owen’s arm and Jeremy smiles at the two of them in the streetlight as they walk along one of Vancouver’s main streets.

“I’ll see you guys tomorrow, okay?” Jeremy says as he stops at the crosswalk. He’s got an apartment and a fiance to get back to. “I’m probably just gonna pass out when I get back.”

“Tell Caro we say hi,” Charlie responds. He lets go of Owen to give Jeremy a hug and then the beta hugs him. He can smell the puff of cinnamon and an undertone of Carolynn's fresh linen scent coming off of Jeremy as he presses his face against the beta’s neck.

“Fuck, your nose is cold,” Jeremy grumbles as he pushes Owen away, his eyes sparkling in the orange streetlight. “Alright, better go home before Carolynn thinks we kidnapped you.”

Jeremy snorts and shakes his head. He shoulders his bag and huffs, breath coming out of his mouth in a white fog. It’s cold, but it’s Vancouver in November, so he expected it. The beta has a puffy jacket on that makes him look like a black marshmallow and a fuzzy hunter’s cap Charlie loaned him.

“Night, guys.” He throws up his hand in a backward wave as he heads to the right while Owen and Charlie head to the left.

“I’m hungry,” Charlie grumbles, voice rasping low and graveled. He’s a little sleepy, leaning heavily on Owen, who chuckles. He reaches up under Charlie’s jacket and presses his cold rings against the other boy’s skin, making him shiver.

“You wanna get something to eat?”

Charlie grumbles in response.

“Come on,” Owen says as he settles his hand on the small of Charlie’s back, “ let’s go back to that diner. The one with the good waffles.”

It might be cold out but, with Charlie huddled against him, he doesn’t feel the chill at all.

* * *

It’s a short walk to the diner and Charlie swings their hands between them, his scent calmer now that they’re not filming. The campfire sitting in Charlie’s soul always goes nuts, jumps and leaps with frenetic energy when they’re on set. It’s mellowed out and Owen inhales deeply as he pulls the other boy closer, pressing his nose against Charlie’s beanie, loving the smell of Charlie’s omega scent with his cologne and the tiny whispers of Owen’s own pine forest running through it. Not as sharp as if they were mated, but they’ve been living together for so long that it was bound to happen naturally. 

The diner is an American-style 1950s one, with red checkered seats and high-top booths and a retro milkshake machine. There's even a jukebox in the corner playing some kind of crooning love song. The scent of pancakes on the griddle and the hiss of fries being thrown in oil waft through the air. The hostess gives them a tired smile as the two of them wander in. 

Charlie’s pulse is strong within the circle of his fingers as he leads the pliant omega with gentle touches. The hostess hands them over to a waitress, who leads them to a small booth in the back. It’s not crowded for one in the morning, which is nice. Owen slides into one side of the booth and Charlie follows after him instead of sitting across from him, crowding him almost into the wall.

The chatter of the restaurant almost drowns out Charlie’s whimper, but Owen’s so attuned to the omega, even after only a few months of knowing and living together, that he lays an arm on the back of the booth. Charlie slides close in a heartbeat, tucking himself under Owen’s arm. The omega exhales, the tension sliding away. It’s like that final release of tension that usually happens when Charlie fully lets go of Luke for the night and settles back into himself.

One of the waitresses comes by with water and a smile. Her beta scent helps Charlie calm down a little and Owen nods gratefully at her. “Here’s some waters to start you off with. Do you need a few minutes?” Owen nods and she heads off to another table.

“You’re not gonna get any of your gross combos, are you?”

Charlie just gives him a smirk in response. The waitress comes back over and they order a huge stack of pancakes. She floats away, the smell of grease and bacon following her as she leaves. Charlie takes a deep gulp of water, completely ignoring the straw, and a few drops dribble down his chin and onto his shirt. Owen reaches up and wipes them away with his thumb, pressing gently on his pulse point as his fingers slide down, past his hand, and down to settle on his stomach. 

Charlie’s shucked his jacket and opened his flannel, so Owen kind of sneaks his fingers under the hem of his shirt. Charlie makes a quiet noise, breathy, as Owen splays his fingers over his abs. It’s kind of weird that they’re like this after only a few months. That Charlie’s leaning on him like they’re mated or bonded or whatever. That he seeks out Owen when he needs comfort, on or off set. That they share the same bed ever since Charlie crawled in after only a few weeks of living together. He’s not complaining, but Owen feels all sorts of responsible.

The waitress comes back with their pancakes, a bottle of syrup, and a small plate of bacon. Owen uses one hand to eat and the other settles on Charlie’s knee under the table. For being so hungry, Charlie nibbles on a piece of bacon, unusually quiet.

“You okay, bud?” Owen asks, turning his whole body towards the omega.

Charlie shrugs. “Just tired.” Owen smells that campfire slowly turning to embers, can feel Charlie deflating at his side, leaning heavily against the blonde. It’s been a long day and they have to get up and do it again tomorrow. “I’m sorry we didn’t just go home.”

Owen brushes a strand of hair out of Charlie’s eyes and gives him a quick peck on the nose, which makes him chuckle. He calls over the waitress and quickly settles the bill, ignoring Charlie’s protests about him paying. The omega glares at him until Owen manhandles him out of the booth and into his jacket.

“Okay, okay, I’m going.” Charlie laughs as he and Owen tumble out of the diner. It’s that same kind of playful nature that Owen loves about their relationship. Charlie wobbles a little on his feet, yawns so big his jaw cracks and Owen has the weirdest urge to poke his teeth or do something equally weird. God, what is this boy doing to him?

“Let’s go home.” Owen pulls Charlie closer to him, pressing a kiss to his forehead.

 _Home isn't always a place,_ Owen thinks, as he looks at Charlie smiling up at him sleepily in the orange streetlights, smelling like a roaring campfire and marshmallows on the back of his tongue. _Sometimes, it’s a person._


	5. Chapter 5

After the craziness of the night, Owen shook and cried himself to sleep and Charlie hates it. Hates his muted scent. Charlie snuggles up behind him, pressing his nose into the back of his neck, trying to be as comforting as possible. He could feel the tension in Owen’s body even as he slept. 

Charlie wakes up the moment Owen moves against him.

After he woke them both with a late-night panic attack, Owen was the first to fall asleep again. Charlie never understood the phrase crying yourself to sleep. He does now. Owen had cried himself to sleep.

He's not an expressive crier. Like everything else with Owen, there are no theatrics. There’s just emotion, quiet but powerful, a steady stream of tears, and a sour note to the pine forest he smells like. Rotted. He didn’t know how to comfort him, so Charlie did the best he could—he combed his fingers through blonde hair, and caressed what skin he could reach curled up behind him, and whispered to him the kinds of promises and confessions that you only whisper when you’re tangled in the dark with someone you love wholly and desperately.

Eventually, Owen fell asleep, and Charlie just watched him for a while until he fell asleep too. It was fitful at best. Every time Owen shifted against Charlie in his sleep he snapped awake, ready. Now, he’s actually awake. Owen rises from his chest gently, hair tickling his skin. The blonde climbs out of the bed; he does not look at him. Owen stands for a second next to the bed, gazing out the window, and then he pads softly toward the bathroom across the thin hall. A moment later, Charlie hears him turn on the shower. 

Charlie sits up. The digital clock on the bedside table says 6:41 am. Outside, the world is covered in a thick blanket of snow, the railings on the balcony of their apartment full of icicles. The sky is overcast and the clouds still look full. They have a jam-packed schedule later today, starting around noon, and Owen’s been a shaky mess all night.

But Charlie’s not ready to let what happened last night slide away into memory. It’s been building for a while now, with little cracks in the foundation. It’s just a stressful day on set here or something that put him on edge there, family things or something Owen just didn’t want to talk about. It’s been about three months since they moved into the apartment and there’s been a slight sour note to Owen’s scent when he gets particularly anxious. It doesn’t happen all the time, but Charlie takes notice when it does.

Last night, the cracks had become too much and crumbled into nothing. Owen broke, shaking in his arms, the pine forest of his scent burning and crumbling to dust, shaking into ash. Now, there are remnants of that in Owen’s bed, in their bed, and so Charlie just sits with himself for a moment, listening to the sounds of the city waking up below, to the shower in the room across the hall.

He climbs out of the bed a few minutes after the shower turns on. He crosses the room, toes curling against the cold floor, and peers into the bathroom. There is a tub-shower combo against one wall, a cloudy shower curtain hanging down. He can see the vague outline of Owen’s body, his alpha scent permeating the bathroom. 

Charlie weighs his options. He could join Owen. He could leave him alone and give him some space. He could ask Owen whether he wants some company.

He wavers only briefly before entering the bathroom and reaching for the curtain, pushes it to the side gently.

Owen is under the spray, his head bent and his back to Charlie. Owen turns his head slightly to the side so he knows that Owen’s realized he’s there, but the alpha does not turn toward him. He steps into the shower and pushes the curtain closed behind him. Steam curls around his body, their scents mixing together in a way that reminds him of Jeremy and Carolynn whenever they're in the same room. It mixes in a way that mates do. 

For a long moment, neither of them move. And then, finally, Owen turns to face him. The blonde reaches out his hand, drops of water clinging to his skin, and presses it against Charlie’s heart. He moves toward Owen immediately, his arms circling his body, lips pressing against his skin. Owen nuzzles into him and Charlie moves his hands over him. He feels no need to say anything. Owen must not either.

Eventually, Owen pulls away. Charlie lets him go, watching as he reaches for a bottle of shampoo sitting on a shelf cut into the tile. An idea strikes Charlie. He takes the bottle out of Owen's hand. The alpha looks down at him with lifted eyebrows. He squeezes some shampoo into his hand, puts the bottle back on the shelf, then smiles at Owen as he buries his hands in his hair and starts to work the shampoo into a lather. 

Owen stares at him, lips parted in surprise. Charlie doesn’t let it deter the work of his hands, or his smile. When Owen’s mouth finally slides into a small and gentle smile of his own, Charlie winks at him. The alpha lifts his hands and runs his fingers over Charlie's skin as he works, tracing idly over his back and the contours of his muscles. Their individual scents mix together and this is what it would be like all the time if they were mated. It makes a little shiver slide down Charlie’s spine and Owen chuckles, eyes closed, body more relaxed than it was all night.

When the shampoo is rinsed completely from Owen’s hair, Charlie turns back to the shelf. There are quite a few bottles sitting there, and he studies them all curiously. How many bottles does one man own in his shower? Damn. Owen reaches around him, chest pressing into his shoulder blades, and plucks a bottle from the shelf.

“This one,” Owen whispers in his ear.

Charlie tilts his head toward Owen’s mouth. “For your hair?”

“For my hair,” he echoes.

He turns back to Owen and dutifully smoothes the contents from the new bottle into his hair, then rinses it out. Another brief consideration of the shelf follows. Owen reaches around him again and grabs the shampoo, squeezes some into his own palm, and then sets the bottle back down. When Charlie turns around, a question on his lips, the alpha buries his hands in Charlie’s hair and proceeds to lather it up. Owen tilts his head back, brushing his fingers over the brunette’s forehead so that he won’t get any soap in his eye, and when he grins at Owen, he winks at Charlie.

After Charlie’s hair is finished, Owen hands him a clear bottle with a pale pink liquid inside. He frowns up at Owen. “Hair?”

“Body,” he says, smirking. The pine scent washing off of Owen is less sour and more natural, like he’s calming down. It’s also a tiny bit sweet, like it gets before he takes Charlie to bed.

Charlie feels a little heated at that, but he doesn’t want to ruin the comfortable intimacy of what they’re doing. So he takes a deep breath and focuses on the task at hand, which requires sudsing up every inch of the alpha with whom he is currently sharing a shower.

Such a rough life he leads.

He hands Owen the bottle afterward so that he can return the favor, and the blonde smiles. “You’ll smell like me if I use this.”

He hadn’t thought of that. The pink liquid smells like some kind of musk, even though it’s pink, the same scent he’s smelled on Owen’s skin since they moved in together. Must be a new thing. The bottle seems like one of those “you choose” scents. Charlie has his own shower stuff back in his own bathroom, but he doesn’t want to break the moment.

“Good,” he tells the alpha.

After his body is washed clean, Owen joins him under the spray. The water streams down around them, running in rivulets over the blonde’s skin. Droplets cling to his shoulder, and he doesn’t resist the impulse that throbs in his chest— Charlie just leans forward and kisses them, tasting the water and Owen’s skin the way he’s dreamed of doing for forever. He finds Owen’s mouth next. It is a languid kiss, drenched with desire but not the kind that they’ll act on. He just wants to kiss the alpha, and Owen lets him.

Eventually, Charlie turns the shower off and pushes the curtain to the side. He steps out onto the mat on the floor, and the blonde follows. There are towels hanging on a nearby rack. Charlie brushes one lightly over Owen’s body and then wraps it around his waist as he squeezes his hair out. He dries himself quickly, wraps the towel around his own waist, and then crowds into the alpha’s space. The mix of pine and campfire is heady and fills the space between them.

“Thank you,” Owen whispers, leaning into him.

He plays with the ends of damp blonde hair. “You’re welcome.”

Owen’s eyes trail over his face for a moment before he kind of shudders and leans into Charlie’s body. Like he’s a deflating balloon. Charlie can feel water drip down his back, between his shoulder blades, and he shudders because the steam is dissipating, the chill of late fall crawling back into the room. But Owen takes a deep breath and pulls away, cups Charlie’s cheek with one hand, rings cold against his skin.

Charlie takes a deep breath, taking in what he could be cheesy and explain as the forest of Owen’s scent growing back stronger from the ash. He takes Owen’s wrist in his hand and presses a kiss to the pulse point resting there, soft and loving. Owen’s eyes glisten, but he doesn’t cry. He’s all cried out, Charlie can tell, but the emotions still there.

The blonde leans closer to Charlie, ducking his head, and he can’t resist the urge to lean up and brush his lips over Owen’s forehead. “I hate when that happens,” the alpha whispers.

He kisses Owen’s forehead again. “But it will, O. You know it will,” he whispers into his hairline.

Owen lifts his head, nose brushing against Charlie’s just before his lips graze over his. “I know,” Owen answers, draping his arms around Charlie’s shoulders, pressing their bodies together. “But you don’t have to deal with it. I know it’s a lot. If you walk away, you won’t have to.”

Charlie kisses him again softly, briefly. He inhales their scents mixed together, a pine forest and campfire, and he can almost imagine his mark on Owen’s naked shoulder, bruised and his. “I couldn’t walk away from you if I tried, O.”

Charlie leans back a little, far enough for their eyes to meet again. He smooths his hands along the blonde’s hips, towel soft against his palms. Charlie scratches his nails lightly through the hair on the nape of Owen's neck.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Owen tells him quietly. “But that means the anxiety and stuff like that aren’t either. What happened last night will happen again. I need you to understand that. It’s not your burden to bear.”

He hates that. Charlie wants to carry it for the alpha, wants to give him nights that are filled with nothing but lovemaking and laughter and dreams about the future. Where he’s not burdened by anxiety and all the things that come with it. But he can’t.

“Okay,” he says. He knows Owen’s always going to have that burden, but Charlie’s going to be there from now on. He’s going to bear the burden with the other boy, for the rest of forever if he’s allowed.

Owen searches his eyes as though he’s looking for hints of hesitation. “Okay?” Owen asks.

“Okay,” Charlie repeats, squeezing his hips. “Just don’t shut me out if it happens again. When anything happens. When you feel like that again, like you’re at your breaking point, please come to me.”

The blonde doesn’t answer right away. Charlie waits, watching him chew his bottom lip. His hair drips, the beads rolling over his pectoral, and Charlie wants to chase them with his lips but he knows he can’t. Not right now. “That won’t be easy for me,” Owen whispers at last. “You’ll need to be patient.”

“I’ll be whatever you need, Owen.” He pulls the alpha closer and presses a kiss to his temple. “We’ll figure it out together,” he promises.

Owen nods, fingertips gliding over the back of his neck. “Together,” he echoes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God, they're soft.
> 
> Let me know what you guys think and send any ABO or even just regular prompts my way. I'm already working on the only one I've gotten so expect that... I'm not sure how soon.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Got an ask online and in the comments about people wanting to see Owen comforting Charlie. So, in my head, while Owen has extreme anxiety, Charlie has manic episodes every so often of extreme highs and then crashing. This is the aftermath of one of those episodes.

Weak fall sunlight streams through the floor to ceiling walls of the living room as the sun begins to set over the Vancouver skyline. Charlie huddles down in his blankets, the heated one on the bottom helping to calm him down. There’s Owen’s weighted one on top where his nose is buried. It smells like Owen, like pine trees that he grew up playing in when he was younger and everything he needs at the moment. His body feels like it could float away at any minute, so the weight helps keep him grounded. Three hours ago, he’d felt like he was flying, felt like he could do anything. On top of the world.

Charlie watches the blonde alpha dances across the room, humming along with the soft sounds of the old-timey radio he’d bought at an antique store during one of their day-off excursions through the city. His golden hair is damp from the shower he pulled Charlie into to calm him down after his manic episode, shorter strands hanging in his face.

It’s calming, Charlie watching Owen as he moves, eyes following the movement of bare muscle and hands and arms and--

“Charlie?”

The brunette peeks his head out from his blanket nest and just blinks at Owen. The blonde put down the rice he’d been measuring into a cup and turns around to face the living room. When they’d rented this apartment, the two of them had loved the open floor plan, with just the island between the kitchen and the living room. This also helps after one of Owen’s anxiety attacks or when Charlie’s crashing from a manic episode. Owen’s anxiety is more common than Charlie’s manic, but it happens and they deal with it. Together. Charlie knows Owen worries when they do happen, stresses out about what he could have done to cause it, even though it’s more of Charlie’s headspace than any external factors.

“Charlie?” Owen tries again, coming to sit next to Charlie but not encroaching on his blanket nest. The brunette gets very territorial during these times, even though there’s no need to. His scent, usually such a strong burning campfire, feels like the last hiss after you pour water onto a fire. “Is there anything I can do?”

The brunette remains silent, but he reaches out with one hand and Owen meets him halfway, leaving his hand, palm up, in between them.

During these times when Charlie retreats into himself, wants to be left alone, feels like he could float away and never come back down, he doesn’t like to talk. But it helps that Owen’s there, his comforting alpha scent permeating the room, like he’s pumping out more of it than usual. The weighted blanket smells like him and helps keep the heat trapped in the blanket underneath.

It’s something they established early on in their relationship. During band/boot camp, it only really happened to Charlie once. Where he went quiet and unmoving after a huge burst of crazed energy, Charlie found the couch in the hallway and kind of turtled into his hoodie. Owen and Maddie and Jeremy had joined him, just sitting around and with him, talking quietly amongst themselves. Maddie had sat on one side, Owen on the other, with Jeremy on the floor by Charlie’s leg. Eventually, he’d slumped over into Owen, nose buried against his neck instead of in his hoodie, and Maddie’s hand tracing patterns on his ankle. It took maybe half an hour for Kenny to come find them, Charlie asleep and drooling on the edge of his sweatshirt. Jeremy’s softly plucking at the strings of Charlie’s guitar and Maddie’s also asleep, slumped over the other side of the couch, her legs tangled with the omega’s. He’d let them take the rest of the day off, to go home and rest, but the four of them had stayed on that couch until Charlie woke up, blushing and embarrassed, and immediately swept up in a group hug.

Now, Charlie reaches out and taps Owen’s palm three times, pulls his finger away, then taps it three times again. Owen, slowly, reaches out and does the same on Charlie’s thigh in both an understanding and sympathetic gesture that Charlie appreciates.

“Do you want me to stay with you or make dinner? Because we can eat later if that’s what you need.”

Charlie does the same three-tap pattern on the blonde’s palm and leans into him, pressing his nose to Owen’s pulse point, breathing in his scent. She remembers when Owen gets like this too, that smelling the scent of someone comforting. Owen has anxiety attacks that render him a trembling mess, crying and sobbing. Sometimes, he needs space and he’ll let Charlie know, or he wants to be held until he falls asleep. Charlie likes to follow him into the shower when he wakes up from one of those panic attacks, washing his hair and just being a presence at the blonde’s back.

“Okay,” Owen whispers, “okay,” as he pulls Charlie, and all of his blankets, into his lap, pressing his nose into Charlie’s hair. Charlie sighs and snuggles closer, watching the sun set over the city skyline. Eventually, the brunette nods off, the regular pattern of his breathing matching Owen’s heartbeat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short but sweet.
> 
> Let me know what you guys thought!


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from SouthernWaid:  
> I'd love to see how Charlie handles Owen going back to Oklahoma for a week without him. (RL he switched rooms with Owen and gift wrapped every single thing Owen owned.)

Charlie throws his keys onto the counter and looks around the apartment and hesitates to flip the light switch. He knows this is going to be good for Owen, to go home and see his family; and for the two of them, who haven’t spent more than a few hours apart since they moved in together. The smell of pine fills every room he steps past in the dark on the way to his room. He shouldn’t feel this empty and the omega inside him is whimpering for Owen, but he shoves it deep down. It’s not about him. Charlie knows he’s going to see his family for a few days while Owen’s gone and he and Meghan are going to take Maddie ice skating and, hopefully, it takes his mind off of his missing alpha. And then he pinches himself because Owen isn’t _his_ , no matter how much he asks Santa for this one thing. 

He hovers at the door to Owen’s room, pressing his hand into the doorframe. The wave of pine trees washes over him with a hint of maple syrup at the tail end. He could go in, snuggle into the pillows that smell like the alpha, but it feels like encroaching on Owen’s territory. So he takes one last deep breath of Owen’s scent and passes by to his own room. He quickly showers off the last day on set before their break-- and maybe he uses Owen’s shampoo instead of his own, but no one needs to know that-- and he curls up in his bed for the first time in ages. The room meant for him has become foreign, a guest bedroom for Maddie or Jeremy or whoever, and it smells like a weird combo of the three of them, but his own scent is so faint.

It feels wrong not to feel Owen’s arms wrapped around him, back pressed to Owen’s front, and he takes a deep, shaky breath. He doesn’t feel warm breath against the back of his neck. Charlie hates this; he shouldn’t feel like his whole world is ending just because Owen isn’t here. It's not like Owen isn't coming back, but his inner omega's whining for him anyway. 

When he wakes up the next morning, he’s disoriented for a moment. He doesn’t have to get up at a certain time today; there’s no Broadway music blasting from the kitchen, no Owen waking him up with kisses and cuddles before they have to get up. Nothing.

It’s hard going about the day without Owen with him. This is the longest they’ll be apart since they met during auditions. He remembers meeting Owen, listening to him flirt with him, and feeling just a little bit attracted to him. Even with the blockers Kenny made them wear until they got picked for their roles, Charlie couldn’t help but want to get to know the blonde, feeling something between them. Once they’d been able to remove the blockers, Charlie remembers Owen’s alpha smell overwhelming him to the point where he would sometimes forget to play the right chords when they were practicing. 

Now, as Charlie makes himself breakfast four days later, still reminding himself not to make enough for two people, there’s something about the apartment that feels empty. He hasn’t really gone out much, except to get groceries or fresh air, and finds himself alone with his guitar in the living room more than anything else. So it’s quiet in the apartment, with just the sound of his six-string and the occasional movie when he’s bored of playing.

Well, until there’s a loud sound as the front door slams open.

“Who’s ready to go ice skating?” Maddie’s shout echoes throughout the apartment, a wave of strawberry following her as she swings around the side of the kitchen to beam at him. She’s got cute snowflake earrings and her hair’s covered in a fall-themed hat, falling down her back in a tight braid. She’s adorable and she smells like strawberries and he abandons his breakfast to wrap her in a hug. She chuckles, face squished against his shoulder, and pats him on the back. “Is this gonna be an all-day thing?” she mumbles. Charlie's a very touchy guy— Maddie made him take one of those love language quizzes when she was bored between takes but he could have told her without even taking it— and she's the first friend he's had over since Owen left. So, yeah, he's probably gonna be hugging her a lot today. He's just a little touch-starved.

Charlie pulls back and shrugs. Gives her a small smile, but it feels weak and wobbly. He reaches up and tugs at one of the curls not trapped by her braid. “I’m okay. Give me, like, ten minutes to get ready and then we can drive to the rink, okay?” She nods and gives his bicep a squeeze before she moves into the kitchen and he travels down the hallway. Charlie freezes in front of Owen’s room. All of his clothes are in there, moved when they started sharing a bed, but it feels strange to go inside when he still thinks of it as _Owen’s_ room. Maddie’s banging around in the kitchen, humming some pop song under her breath, and he takes a deep breath, turns the knob to open the door.

* * *

Maddie’s face is flush with excitement when she barrels into him, knocking them both into one of the rink walls. Meghan laughs loudly from somewhere behind them and Charlie rolls his eyes. Having two little sisters is something he didn’t agree to and, now that they’ve met, he’s kind of regretting it. They’ve been ganging up on him all day, teasing him, and just being general levels of little-sister-annoying, but he honestly loves it. Mehgan’s older than Maddie by a year or two but it doesn’t seem to stop them from being absolute children.

“Can we get some hot chocolate?” the young alpha asks. She’s still a bit shaky on her skates, clinging to his jacket and the wall. He laughs loudly and helps her to the exit of the rink. As soon as they hit the concrete, she wobbles like a newborn calf, walking funny with the blades. Charlie follows her to one of the benches, grabbing their shoes from one of the lockers, and helps her pull off her skates. Once they both put their shoes on and return their skates, they head over to a small cafe area set up on the second floor overlooking the rink. Charlie brings over two cups of hot cocoa and a big brownie for Maddie. The two of them commandeer a small two-person table against the windows so they can watch the skaters. Meghan's zipping around the rink and he smiles.

It’s the moments within the silence that Charlie misses Owen the most. There’s that missing presence next to him and he has to remind himself that the blonde’s not going to be there when he turns to make a joke or tease Maddie when she falls on her ass in the rink. He’s wearing one of Owen’s sweatshirts, this one a dark blue with constellations, and he can’t help but bury his nose in the collar while Maddie takes a sip of her hot chocolate, looking at him over the rim of the cup. She’s got little brownie crumbs at the edge of her mouth, her glasses a little foggy from the steam rising off her drink.

“I miss him, too,” she says without prompting. The scent of strawberries calms him slightly, but he misses the smell of pine trees. He inhales what remains on the sweatshirt, the only thing he allowed himself to take of Owen’s. The scent is slowly being replaced by his own and he hates how sad that makes him. It’s not like Owen’s never coming back, he knows this, but there’s the omega in him crying out for the other boy. They made a promise not to text or call or Facetime so that Owen could make the most of his time at home with his family before coming back to work.

“I know he’s coming back,” he mumbles as he picks at the edge of the table, “but it’s like something inside me thinks he won’t.”

Maddie points her finger at him. “That’s the omega bein' a lil bitch inside you.” Charlie rolls his eyes and takes a chunk of her brownie, shoving it in his mouth as Maddie makes an upset-distressed noise. “Asshole.”

“Hey, I paid for it.”

Maddie just rolls her eyes in response. “So, I’ve got an idea…” She’s got that look in her eye Charlie hates and loves so much because it can either mean something fun or there’s gonna be trouble. Or, in the best-case scenario, both. "What are the odds we wrap everything in Owen's room in wrapping paper?"

They've been playing Odds since the beginning of band/boot camp. At first, it was just Owen and Charlie, seeing if they could one-up each other with weirder and crazier shit until Maddie and Jeremy and Jadah and Savannah joined in. Now it's the six of them, with Booboo or Sonny sometimes joining in. Another fun way to pass the time between takes or when they were all hanging out at the apartment. The worst, so far, is when Jadah asked Jeremy what the odds were of him eating one of Charlie's weird concoction foods. He'd been sick for a whole day and Jadah declared herself the Odds Champion of the World.

Now, Maddie's staring at him with a shit-eating grin on her face, the scent of strawberries blasting him in the face as her excitement rises. It would be fun to prank Owen and it might take his mind off of the fact that the alpha's not here.

He leans in, snags another corner of brownie, and beams. "Bet."

* * *

Savannah's the first to join them in their little prank. They go to the Canadian equivalent of Walmart, as Maddie calls it, and buy so much wallpaper and no gifts, the cashier ends up looking at them like they're crazy.

"We've got a big family," Savannah comments as she throws her hair over her shoulder. Charlie, standing behind her, gets hit with a wave of all different kinds of herbs mixed together and he wrinkles his nose. She pays for it with a flourish and the three are on their way back to the apartment.

They start with Charlie's almost empty room. It's easier to gather the few clothes he forgot to shift over to Owen's room once they started sharing. It doesn't even feel like his room anymore, doesn't look like it either. There's some of his extra guitars, the acoustic guitar the only thing not covered in the tiniest bit of dust. Owen keeps the room clean because sometimes Jeremy passes out when they’re working on the script or when Maddie stays over after late-night writing sessions. She and Charlie have been working on ‘Juke’ songs if they get more seasons and sometimes she passes out if it’s late enough. So he carries her to the extra bedroom and makes Jeremy, if he’s there, sleep on the couch.

Jeremy and even Booboo join them in moving the heavier things: the bed, the dresser, the TV, other things. Their whole house looks a mess of wrapping paper and bows and Owen’s mattress against the wall as the boys slide it into his new room. Charlie can’t help the little excited tingle that slides down his spine at the fact that he’ll be sleeping in the room that’s filled with Owen’s scent. Maybe he won’t feel so alone anymore.

Savannah sticks some of the bows to the wall like little stars, using a broom to push them down. Maddie giggles as she crinkles the pillows, putting them on the bed before she pushes everyone outside the room. There’s another crinkle as the wrapping paper on the inside of the door pushes against the frame.

“Owen should be back tomorrow,” Savannah says. “Charlie and I will pick him up at the airport. Maddie's gonna wait here and we’ll just film his reaction.” She rubs her hands together like some kind of Disney villain, the scent of herbs getting stronger and Charlie’s worried she’s going to vibrate right out of existence if she gets any more excited.

* * *

Savannah drives the two of them to the airport the next day to pick up Owen. Maddie’s back at the apartment, putting the finishing touches on Owen’s welcome home present. Charlie had been too excited to drive. Owen’s coming _home_ and Charlie’s so ready to see him again. 

It’s been weird, sleeping in what _was_ Owen’s room, surrounded by the scent of pine trees almost ingrained in the walls, the more subtle almost faded scent of a campfire accompanying it. He’d been able to sleep last night, thanks to the fact that he was in a room that smelled like the only alpha his inner omega wanted.

He remembers the conversation he and Savannah had inside the apartment, Maddie hovering behind them with a huge smile on her face. Owen had a connecting flight in Seattle and they’d texted him to call one of them before he got on the plane. He’d called Charlie, of course.

“Dude, do you want me and Sav to pick you up?” Charlie asks, trying to keep the excitement out of his voice. He doesn’t want to give the blonde any hint that something was afoot.

“Really?” Charlie could just hear the sounds of the airport through the phone, Owen's surprised huff. “You guys don’t have to do that. It’s all good.” He chuckles.

“No, no,” Savanna puts on her winning smile, even though Owen can’t see it, and Maddie chuckles behind her hands. “We wanna pick you up.” She sounds so fucking perky and also really persuasive. Maybe she turns on her own omega charm up to eleven.

“We missed you,” Charlie adds, putting a tiny bit of an whine in his voice. Just to placate the other boy. Maybe if he and Savannah team up on the alpha, he'll have to listen to them. “We really wanna see you.”

Owen huffs and chuckles and Charlie can imagine him shaking his head, running his hands through his short hair. “I have the best friends in the world,” he says like he’s shocked. “Yeah, okay. I’ll meet you guys outside, okay?”

“Yeah, sure.” Savannah nods even though Owen can't see her. “Have a nice flight!”

Now, Charlie’s standing outside the car in the short-term parking, hands shoved into his pockets, rocking on his heels. One moment, he’s standing there alone, Savannah in the car on the phone with Maddie to keep her updated. The next, he sees Owen and he’s off like a shot. The other boy’s got like three bags with him, a black beanie on his head, how own pink sweatshirt, a huge smile on his face. He drops them all as Charlie launches himself into the alpha’s arms, snuggling up against his pulse point and inhaling the scent of fresh pine needles into his lungs like he’ll never get to again.

“Hey,” Owen says softly as he wraps his own arms around the omega, getting a chuckle as he shoves his hands into the back pockets of Charlie’s jeans. “Missed you too.”

“What about me?” Savannah says as she comes around the side of the car and leans against it. She’s wearing a long brown coat and earmuffs and a huge smile on her face.

Charlie doesn’t let go of Owen, just takes his hand, so the blonde wraps his free arm around Savannah, pulling her into an awkward hug. She laughs and kisses his cheek before pulling away. She goes over to grab his dropped bags and shoves them into the back seat.

“Maddie’s back at the apartment, so you might wanna hurry up.” Savannah hops into the front seat and beams at the two of them, all herb-scented and smiles. “Charlie, you can ride in the back.”

He pouts but does as she says, leaning an arm against Owen’s bag. Savannah expertly navigates them to the apartment complex and Charlie’s got about a million texts from Maddie. But he only replies to one. 

_Get your camera ready. We’re here._

“You guys are the best,” Owen says again as Charlie grabs his bags. The omega lets them into the building and Savannah follows behind. She’s pulled her phone out surreptitiously and he knows she’s ready to film as soon as they pass the kitchen in the apartment.

Maddie swings the door open right as Owen’s about to knock. “Hey, O!” She gives him a quick hug and smiles at Charlie and Savannah over his shoulder. They’re all good to go.

Owen, unknowingly, heads to what is now Charlie’s room and swings the door open. It still smells a little bit like pine trees, but more like a campfire because Charlie's been sleeping in there and unknowingly pumping out more of his scent. The blonde wrinkles his nose and turns to Charlie, brow furrowed. Maddie kind of skips ahead of him and to where Charlie’s room _was_.

“Did you move our rooms?” he asks incredulously as he kind of bumbles to the other room, weighed down by his bags, the beanie slipping over his eyes. He turns to glare at Charlie before Savannah and Maddie start laughing, almost leaning against each other as they film Owen’s reaction. “Ew, I don’t want your gross room,” he says, disgust in his voice like they don’t actively share a room. Although, he can understand not wanting a room that hasn’t really been used as a room for a while. Sure, guests stay there, but no one lives there. He drops his bags next to the entrance and steps in. “This… you… you guys need hobbies.”

Maddie opens his room, bows sarcastically and Owen’s eyes go wide and he huffs out a breath. His room is completely covered in wrapping paper and the three of them watch as he tears it off the windows, off the bed and the dresser and the TV and the pillows. Maddie dances over and places a big light pink bow on his head, a kiss to his cheek, and he laughs at her. The room smells like the weirdest combo of campfires and strawberries and pine and a whole herb garden. Weird, but like family. They’re just missing Jeremy and Jadah at this point, but Savannah’s on Facetime with both, so they’re not actually missing the action.

“So, we wrapped everything in Owen’s room,” the omega says to the phone. Charlie turns it to Owen as he fixes the bow on his head. He holds one of his pillows, still half-wrapped in his hand, and he’s scowling at the camera. “And how does it feel?”

Owen looks at him and gives him the softest death glare he’s ever received. “Like Christmas,” the alpha says sarcastically, laughing, shaking his head in exasperation. Maddie dives in, helping him unwrap the rest of the furniture in the room. The sun’s way past set and she’s been talking about going back to the place she and her dad are renting for the show. Savannah follows not long after Maddie, plopping a bow on her own head and giving each of them a kiss on the cheek.

And then there were two.

Owen sits on his bed, in his new space, contemplating Charlie, one leg swinging off the side to kick a piece of wrapping paper. “Did you miss me that much?” he asks as he gestures to the room. When Charlie looks at him in confusion, Owen smirks. “Did you miss me _so much_ that you had to switch rooms?”

“Maddie and I played Odds while you were gone.” He shrugs and picks up one of the throw pillows, sets it down next to Owen. 

“How long did it even take you guys?”

“Uh, probably two days?” Charlie shrugs. “Booboo and Jer helped me move shit while Jadah, Maddie, and Savannah wrapped everything.”

“Damn, you guys are crazy.” Owen laughs and he kind of grabs for Charlie, pulling him so that the other boy’s leaning against the wall with him. The brunette snuggles into his side, nosing at his pulse point and giving a happy little wiggle. Owen chuckles. “Would you have picked me up if it wasn’t for the prank?”

Charlie pulls away to look up at Owen. “Oh, no,” he says with a completely serious voice, “you would have cabbed it.” After a minute of the alpha just staring at him, he laughs loudly, head thrown back, can see Owen scowl even though squinted eyes. 

He yelps when Owen pushes on his shoulders, bullies him onto his back, and straddles him. Charlie chokes on his own spit as he looks up at the younger boy, the alpha his heart’s been yearning for since he left. The scent of pine trees is so strong in the room that used to smell like dust and the faintest hint of a campfire long burnt out. Owen leans over him, hands on either side of his head, panting like he’s just run a marathon. There’s a huge smile on his face; that soft, joyous, crooked smile that Charlie loves so much. He can’t really move— Owen’s resting his full body weight fully on his arms to cage Charlie in— but he’s more than okay with that.

“You’re such a dick,” Owen grumbles, but there’s laughter layered underneath, and Charlie wiggles one of his hands out from where Owen’s trapped it with his legs. He uses it to bring Owen down for a long I-missed-you kiss, a welcome-home kiss and Owen hums into his mouth as he goes down on his elbows, one thumb sweeping just under his ear. It softens Charlie, settles him a little even as their mouths move together.

“But,” Charlie says as he pulls away, “you love me anyway.” He wiggles his eyebrows and Owen laughs, face falling into the crook of his shoulder. The alpha’s breath feels like hot fire against his neck and he shivers. Heat licks down his spine, but he ignores it, for now, in favor of watching Owen pull back, bright green eyes turning to a dark forest shade as they flit across his face.

“Yeah,” Owen breathes, “I do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Charlie and Owen really didn't want this chapter to end. Just wanted to keep being soft and making out. So you can just imagine the next part of their reunion.
> 
> Let me know what you thought and send in those prompts either here or on Tumblr @ of-pine-trees-and-campfires!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For everyone who wanted more Maddie & Charlie. 
> 
> I'm ignoring the fact that Maddie didn't go to the wedding.

Maddie wakes up cocooned in warmth and the scent of campfires. She pushes up on her elbow and smiles. There’s the sound of an acoustic guitar coming from somewhere in the apartment and the sun just peeks through the blinds. Over the sound of the guitar, she can hear LA waking up around her.

She’s visiting Charlie and Owen for a few days, chilling in LA, before she goes home. Jeremy and Carolynn were gone on their honeymoon and the wedding two days before had been beautiful. She remembers Charlie and Owen on either side of her, crying, when Jeremy finally said, “I do.” She remembers Jeremy gently putting his hand over the mating mark that Carolynn wasn’t shy about showing off in her wedding dress. Charlie had spun her around the room, her dress flaring out around her, and then she watches as Owen launches himself at Charlie and Jeremy, who are ready to catch him. It’s like the one when Alex is “swimming” over Luke and Reggie’s heads. Now, she gets to sleep in and spend at least two more days with her boys before she has to fly home.

Sliding out of bed, she shoves her feet into a pair of Charlie’s slippers, big on her but comfortable. The whole room is Charlie. There's band posters on the wall and his electric guitar and the clutter that makes up his desk, full of notebooks and Ghosty and knickknacks. It’s funny that he even has his own room in the apartment because he sleeps in Owen’s room, but it makes sense for them to have their own separate spaces. And Maddie gets to sleep in a much cleaner room than if she stayed in Owen’s.

Maddie follows the acoustic guitar down the hall, past the kitchen area, and into the living room. She rubs at the crust at the corner of her eyes and smiles at what she sees. Charlie’s sitting on the couch in a beam of sunlight coming from between the cracks in the blinds. His acoustic guitar sits on his lap and he strums it with his eyes closed, relaxed. She can’t tell what he’s singing because he’s doing so under his breath, obviously not wanting to wake the other people in the house.

She coughs and he looks up at her, the corners of his eyes crinkling as he smiles.

“Morning, Mads,” Charlie whispers. She inhales the scent of a summer campfire coming off of him in waves, soft and comforting. She slips around the couch, ruffling his hair as she goes into the kitchen.

“Where do y’all keep your coffee?” Maddie asks as she grabs a mug from the lineup on the counter. This one has 

“Aren’t you a little young to be drinking coffee?”

“Fuck off.” She digs around in one of the cabinets until she finds one of the K-cups for the machine. Charlie chuckles behind her and goes back to strumming the guitar; it’s a different song this time, more upbeat but quiet because Owen’s still asleep. He plucks at the strings as Maddie watches the coffee pour into the pot. She cups the mug between her hands and walks over to the couch, settling on the floor next to it. He begins to hum again and she joins in.

They sit like that for a few minutes as Maddie sips her coffee and listens to Charlie create simple melodies and the sun rises over the Hollywood hills. It’s March, but it’s shaping up to be a warm day.

There’s a shift in the room, in the scent coming off of the omega. Maddie leans against his leg and sighs. She can almost feel the nerves, the tiniest flickering of a jumping flame. 

“What song were you singing?” she asks as she puts her half empty mug on the coffee table and rests her hand on his knee. “Before?”

“Oh, uh…” When she looks at him, she can see the blush painting his cheeks. “ _ Can’t Help Falling in Love _ .”

“Cheesy.” But she watches him pluck at the strings, a small smile on his face as he plays the melody to the song. He looks so happy and his scent is so content and she’s really happy for him. He and Owen really do balance each other out. Or turn each other into idiots.

She runs a hand through the rat’s nest that is her hair and scowls but it’s quickly forgotten as Charlie continues to play. She sips her coffee and closes her eyes, leans against the couch next to his leg. It’s a soft, slow kind of morning and she doesn’t want it to end.

She looks up at the omega and notices, for the first time, that he’s back in those cut tanktops with the big slits in the side. They’re his favorite, but he hasn’t been wearing them since he and Owen got back from their van trip down the coast. She hadn’t really questioned why… until now.

A stark contrast against his skin is a dark bruise in the shape of a mouth. A bite mark. A  _ mating  _ mark.

“Holy shit,” she whispers, breaking the quiet and Charlie’s soft strumming. He looks down at her, brows furrowed in confusion. She breathes the words out again and gestures to his neck. It’s only been a week since they got back from their trip, but he’s been wearing actual shirts and even wore a suit to the wedding. He and Owen looked like old farts, a fact that Maddie told them over and over as the three of them were getting ready in the apartment.

“What?” He looks worried for a moment before he realizes where her eyes are fixed. His hand shoots up and clamps down on the spot and he blushes furiously. “Oh, uh, that. Heh, I forgot about that.”

“How could you not tell me?” she hisses, still trying to be quiet because Owen’s sleeping, but it’s hard because that’s a  _ mating _ mark on Charlie’s neck. She’d been wondering why Charlie and Owen smelled so much more intensely like each other after getting back from their van trip, but just chalked it up to them living in very close quarters after living in an apartment. One's scent  _ lingers _ . But this, this is different.

She inhales again. Charlie still smells like a campfire on a warm summer night, but there's pine in there. Like, if they were in the woods, the only thing he's burning is  _ pine _ .

"Jesus, when did that happen?" She touches the spot on her own neck. Charlie's still blushing, still fiddling with the strings but it's almost out of embarrassment than just his inability to sit still.

"Uh, well, there this night in—"

"Nope!” Maddie jumps on the couch and smacks both hands over his mouth, kneeing him in the stomach by accident. He pulls away and wheezes, rubbing the spot and glaring at her.

“Ow!”

“I do  _ not _ need to hear about the  _ how. _ ” She whacks his arm and he laughs at her, smiling. She settles onto the couch next to him, watches the mark shift as he sets his guitar on the ground. It’s still bruised and a sickly greenish-yellow around the edges, but Charlie doesn’t try to hide it as she continues to look. One day, it’ll look like Jeremy and Carolynn’s, just a bite mark on his neck to signify he belongs to someone and someone belongs to him. Owen doesn’t wear shirts like Charlie does, yet, but Maddie can bet he has one too. One doesn’t spend ten days in a van with someone they’re completely in love with and  _ not _ come out the other side with a mating mark. “But, can I say,” she takes a deep breath and, with the most stress on the last word, lets out a, “ _ finally _ .”

Charlie just smiles at her and touches the mark with gentle fingers. “It wasn’t a planned thing. It just… happened.”

“That’s adorable.” Maddie smirks and taps the back of his hand with her palm. She takes a sip of her coffee and grabs the blanket off the back of the couch. She wraps it around herself, not because it’s cold but because it’s cozy and smells like her boys. She only has a younger sister, but meeting these guys and becoming an honorary younger sister to all three of them has brought some kind of weird shit with it. Their scent is as comforting to her as her parents or her sister. Like this blanket, it’ll wrap around her, comfortable and something she hopes to keep for the rest of her life.

She watches as Charlie fiddles with his hands, the edge of his shirt, the tassels on one of the couch cushions. He eventually picks up his guitar and begins to play again. It’s one of his ticks, one that he’s given to Luke because he can’t sit still. “What’s on your mind, Char?” she asks after a few minutes of low guitar playing and Maddie sipping her coffee. 

“Can I show you something?” he asks, a little nervously.

“Uh, sure.”

He hands her his guitar and heads off towards their guest bedroom. Where she’s been sleeping. She settles the instrument over her lap and plucks at the strings. He’s been teaching her how to play and she’s pretty decent at it. He comes back in with a small bag and a sheepish grin on his face. Charlie pulls out a small pouch, a royal purple velvet. He tilts the bag into her hand and two metal circles fall into her palms.

“Are those…?” She trails off, thumbing the top band. They’re both beautiful in vastly different ways. The one on the top is a shiny silver with tiny waves etched into the metal, a single tiny light blue gem in the underside V of each crest. She holds it up and squints at the words on the inside. “ _ Pour toos jouice. _ ” 

Charlie laughs at her, the campfire of his scent crackling and popping, and she scowls. “It’s  _ pour tous jours _ .” He says it in that flowing French way of his that she loves. She can speak Spanish fluently; sometimes the two of them speak it rapidly, languages so similar yet so different. And then Owen will interject in German and the two of them will look at him like he’s crazy.

“What does it mean?”

“'For all days,' in French.” Charlie shrugs and he looks sheepish, but that smile’s still there, crooked and familiar. It’s the same one he wears when Luke looks at Julie. Maddie beams at him and slides the ring onto her finger. Of course, it’s way too big for her slim fingers, but she wiggles it at Charlie anyway. He laughs and smiles. She slips it back into the pouch and examines the other one. 

The second one is almost iridescent, but subtly so, with little inlaid flecks of green and gold. It’s beautiful. She checks to see if it has engraving on the inside and it does. “I can’t even read this.” Charlie says something garbled in broken, awkward German, and Maddie wrinkles her nose. “Yeah, no, we should leave the German to Owen. How did you find these words if you can’t even say them?”

Charlie shrugs again. “I looked up something about beautiful things to engrave for engagement rings. It was on a lot of the websites. It means ‘my heart’ in super old German.”

Maddie looks between the ring pouch as she slips the second ring inside and the omega in front of her. He looks nervous but excited as he takes the velvet bag back. “That’s really beautiful, Charlie.” She nudges his leg with her foot. “Owen’s going to love them.”

“Thanks.”

“How is he still sleeping?” Maddie asks after they’ve calmed down. She takes the last sip of her coffee and puts it down on the table in front of them before settling on the opposite side of the couch from Charlie, wiggling her toes into the crook behind his knee.

“It was a long night last night…” Ew. Maddie wrinkles her nose again and his eyes squint as he laughs again. “Not like that, Mads. Get your head out of the gutter.” She kicks him in the leg and he rubs at it, pouting. “Owen’s a night snacker. So he always wakes me up when he goes to eat something at like three in the morning. I’m surprised you didn’t hear him banging around in there.”

“I had my earplugs in.” She smirks at him. “You snore.”

“At least I don’t sing in my sleep,” he counters. He then proceeds to sing in an absurdly off-pitch note and looks at her the whole time, smiling at her with his scrunched-up nose and his eyes that turn almost into lines when he smiles that wide. 

God. Charlie annoys the shit out of her, but he’s also the best big brother she never had. She loves Jeremy and Owen, but she’s connected with Charlie through music and their characters on a deeper level. It’s funny, how much like their characters they are when it comes to music. Jadah had once joked that they were “platonic musical soulmates” and fluttered her eyelashes. But, well, she’s not wrong.

“You know, I think Owen’s a lucky guy,” she says when he finally stops singing. Thank God for that. She thought she was going to have to cover his face with a pillow. 

“Awww, are you jealous?” He pokes at her leg and she almost kicks him in retaliation. Okay, she takes back everything nice she ever said about him. He’s an annoying big brother and sometimes she wants to shove him out the window.

“Ew, no. You’re nasty.”

But she’s laughing and he’s laughing and Owen walks in just as Charlie chuckles his way off the couch, almost crushing his guitar. Maddie swipes it at the last second, holding it close to her chest like a prized possession.

“What the fuck is going on in here?” The two of them look up to find Owen standing in the hallway leading to the bedroom/bathroom area. He’s not wearing a shirt and, for the first time, Maddie can see the mark clearly on the meat of his shoulder. It’s a little bit sideways and way more bruised than Charlie, but she watches as he grabs a large Band-Aid from the counter next to him and stretches it over the bite mark. When he notices her looking, he smiles sheepishly at her and blushes. “Uh, hey, Mads.”

The couch groans as Charlie flops back onto it. “She knows, bro.” He taps next to the bite mark on his own neck. Owen rolls his eyes and walks over, pressing a kiss to Charlie’s forehead before he pushes a Band-Aid onto the bruised area there. Charlie hisses and glares but says nothing.

“Oh, well, uh…”

Maddie knows Owen likes to keep his private life private, but it’s going to be really hard when Charlie wears shirts like that. At least the edge will be sticking out of everything he wears and, like Jeremy, the two of them are going to have to put coverup on it while they’re playing the ghost boys. “Your secret is safe with me,” she tells him as she taps his hand. He smiles at her and settles on the floor between where she and Charlie sit on the couch.

Charlie begins humming again, this time just a melody, and Maddie tries to match him on the guitar. Owen closes his eyes and leans back against Charlie’s leg, sighing. There’s a soft breeze coming in through the open window that smells like the sea.

It’s a perfect beginning to another perfect day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Myn genyst, Old German for "My heart"
> 
> Pour tous jours, 15th-century French for “For all days”
> 
> Let me know what you guys thought. Maddie and Charlie's relationship is adorable. Love how she bullies him as a form of affection and he knows it.

**Author's Note:**

> There will be at least three chapters of this fic, but I don't know when it'll come out and I can't make any promises.
> 
> These boys are just so soft for each other. Dumb himbos that love each other.
> 
> Let me know what you guys thought!


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